happy new year! meanwhile back at patina farm...

I hope you all had a lovely holiday. We had a great New York visit with Charlie, shopping, eating, and catching up. Like the rest of 2012, our week in New York flew by.

Next thing I knew, we were back in California, driving up to Patina Farm to see the progress...

Since we are beginning to plant the hill behind our house, we started our site visit in the back.

The hill will be planted with a native California groundcover call ceanothus. Gravel pathways will traverse the hill to allow us to get to the bottom level of the land.

Wisteria will grow on simple rebar trellises above the windows.

The house is being wrapped and water proofed before we begin to stucco. Steve's office glass doors will soon be installed between the old barn beams.

Steve is obsessing about all of the waterproofing details. As most of you know when it comes to construction, water is not your friend!

The standing seam metal roof is starting to be installed on Steve's office. All of the wood buildings will have standing seam...

including my office.

At the end of our site visit, Steve's office looked like this!

The white insulation in my office helps me to imagine what the space will feel like once the white plaster walls are in place. Plaster shelves will flank the antique pine door to Steve's office. The taller nooks at the bottom will be the perfect place for dog beds.

The antique paneled doors that we bought at the Paris flea market will hide my printer and office supplies. I haven't decided whether to repaint the doors or leave them as they are. Once the floors and walls are in, it will be easier to make this decision.

The steel doors for my office are on axis with the chicken coop and kitchen garden.

I was so excited to see how the kitchen was progressing. This is the sink wall. We have no upper cabinetry in the kitchen... only windows. On the bottom: the arched opening to the left will be wood storage (the fireplace is near by), then there will be four dishwasher drawers (an entire post in the future will be dedicated to explaining this design decision!), the farm sink will be in the center with a linen skirt underneath, trash and storage to the right of the sink, dog food storage in the arched niche to the right.

It's so much fun to be able to start focusing on the decorative details. Since we have no recessed lighting, we are finalizing all of the light fixtures. Most of the fixtures will be simple, from Circa Lighting, Barnlight Electric and Schoolhouse Electric, but a few of the special pieces will be antique fixtures.

This chandelier is going in our Master Bedroom.

It will be the antique elements, like this vintage cupola that I bought from Fernworks Antiques and...

Our French antique roof tiles that will provide patina, warmth and unique character.

The design of Patina Farm has been an incredible challenge. Given the amount of antique and vintage items that we've incorporated into this house, it is unlike anything we have designed before. We had to give up some of our dreams along the way, including a collaboration with the amazing hardware designer, Peter van Cronenburg.

I am sharing our journey with you to hopefully inspire you to include unique pieces in your design projects. Please feel free to ask question here.

The one thing that I ask is that you keep your comments constructive. Mean, negative comments will be deleted and ignored (part of my New Year's resolutions!).

xo

Brooke

If you would like help creating the home of your dreams, email me about our design services. You can also purchase many items found here on Velvet and Linen as well as "to the trade" furnishings through Giannetti Home. Email Kelly about the details.

Comments

I hope you all had a lovely holiday. We had a great New York visit with Charlie, shopping, eating, and catching up. Like the rest of 2012, our week in New York flew by.

Next thing I knew, we were back in California, driving up to Patina Farm to see the progress...

Since we are beginning to plant the hill behind our house, we started our site visit in the back.

The hill will be planted with a native California groundcover call ceanothus. Gravel pathways will traverse the hill to allow us to get to the bottom level of the land.

Wisteria will grow on simple rebar trellises above the windows.

The house is being wrapped and water proofed before we begin to stucco. Steve's office glass doors will soon be installed between the old barn beams.

Steve is obsessing about all of the waterproofing details. As most of you know when it comes to construction, water is not your friend!

The standing seam metal roof is starting to be installed on Steve's office. All of the wood buildings will have standing seam...

including my office.

At the end of our site visit, Steve's office looked like this!

The white insulation in my office helps me to imagine what the space will feel like once the white plaster walls are in place. Plaster shelves will flank the antique pine door to Steve's office. The taller nooks at the bottom will be the perfect place for dog beds.

The antique paneled doors that we bought at the Paris flea market will hide my printer and office supplies. I haven't decided whether to repaint the doors or leave them as they are. Once the floors and walls are in, it will be easier to make this decision.

The steel doors for my office are on axis with the chicken coop and kitchen garden.

I was so excited to see how the kitchen was progressing. This is the sink wall. We have no upper cabinetry in the kitchen... only windows. On the bottom: the arched opening to the left will be wood storage (the fireplace is near by), then there will be four dishwasher drawers (an entire post in the future will be dedicated to explaining this design decision!), the farm sink will be in the center with a linen skirt underneath, trash and storage to the right of the sink, dog food storage in the arched niche to the right.

It's so much fun to be able to start focusing on the decorative details. Since we have no recessed lighting, we are finalizing all of the light fixtures. Most of the fixtures will be simple, from Circa Lighting, Barnlight Electric and Schoolhouse Electric, but a few of the special pieces will be antique fixtures.

This chandelier is going in our Master Bedroom.

It will be the antique elements, like this vintage cupola that I bought from Fernworks Antiques and...

Our French antique roof tiles that will provide patina, warmth and unique character.

The design of Patina Farm has been an incredible challenge. Given the amount of antique and vintage items that we've incorporated into this house, it is unlike anything we have designed before. We had to give up some of our dreams along the way, including a collaboration with the amazing hardware designer, Peter van Cronenburg.

I am sharing our journey with you to hopefully inspire you to include unique pieces in your design projects. Please feel free to ask question here.

The one thing that I ask is that you keep your comments constructive. Mean, negative comments will be deleted and ignored (part of my New Year's resolutions!).

xo

Brooke

If you would like help creating the home of your dreams, email me about our design services. You can also purchase many items found here on Velvet and Linen as well as "to the trade" furnishings through Giannetti Home. Email Kelly about the details.